Leveraging scrum principles in collaborative, inter-disciplinary service-learning project courses

This paper presents two primary results: (1) an adaptation of a Scrum-based, software-tools enabled process used in international service-learning project courses in the Computer and Information Sciences and other disciplines and (2) the software applications resulting from this process. The paper begins with an overview of Scrum and the challenges of applying it in the classroom. We survey the literature regarding adaptations of Scrum in an academic setting. Unlike a number of applications of Scrum in the academy, we applied Scrum in the context of international service-learning courses where we completed software application projects for clients, typically non-profit organizations that needed a system to address some key issue. The challenges encountered with the application of Scrum in a multi-course project setting are discussed along with the adaptations made to address these problems. We summarize some of our successful project results and experiences to date. Finally, we discuss known issues with our approach and future directions of our work, including our interest in partnering with other institutions and in pursuing an open source model for our projects.